Now playing: Bedtime stories revamped with a digital twist
The ancient narrative form of storytelling, once a bedtime
experience, has now got a digital spin. (Representative photo)
(Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
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PUNE: On July 27, when former President APJ Abdul Kalam passed away
in Shillong, in distant Chennai, the Karadi Tales team uploaded the
audio version of his popular book 'Wings on Fire'. A nation grieving
the death one of its favourite leaders readily downloaded the book.
Two months on, after watching the biographical thriller Everest, a
Mumbai professional couldn't shake off the 3D experience and started
reading up on the 1996 disaster on the Internet and found a
downloadable audio book on it. Not much of a book lover, he saved the
audio file on his pen drive and now plays it while maneuvering his
way through the crawling Mumbai traffic. "I wouldn't have picked up a
fat book to read, but I wanted to know more," the 30-year-old
marketing professional says.
The ancient narrative form of storytelling, once a bedtime
experience, has now got a digital spin. "What makes a good story
doesn't change. Modern tools have helped us make the process more
interesting and interactive. From paintings on the wall to tablets,
the challenge lies in how to make a story interesting and
interactive," says Manas Mohan, CEO of Publishing, Amar Chitra Katha.
It was the charm of storytelling that had Ajay Dasgupta leave his
corporate job in 2013 and start the Kahaani Project in Pune. A
Dialogue in the Dark experience, where visitors are led by blind
guides to navigate a darkened space, had inspired Dasgupta to start a
project of storytelling sessions designed for the visually impaired.
Now, Kahaani crowd sources with volunteers, records stories and
uploads them on the website. Dasgupta likes to call it a 'YouTube for
stories.' "The dominant form of narrative is the visual one. Reading
is important but so is listening. Storytelling should be a
multi-sensory experience," he says.
Apart from holding storytelling workshops with Door Step School,
Kahaani Project will now set up kiosks across the city where anyone
can stop and listen to a story.
If these initiatives revolve around the oral form of storytelling,
there are others that aim at initiating children into the world of
books. The Chennai-based Book Lovers' Program for Schools (BLPS) -
backed by two IITians - Amrutash Misra and Naresh Ramamurthy -
believes in making the storytelling experience live and communal and
use it as a tool to encourage children to read more. "Half the goal
is achieved if the right book is picked," says Misra. He explains
that embellishing the narration doesn't always help. "With too much
prop, children might end up saying I don't want to read the book or
that the book is too boring." Apart from recommending a reading list,
training teachers, BLPS also holds activities like group reading.
Misra says the internet has opened up multiple doors to popularize
and customize storytelling. The IITian duo recently released a
storybook app, Storyhood, which is inspired by the popular android
app Farfaria. This app features ebooks, fairy tales and bedtime
stories; short stories and longer reads and loads of classic and
modern stories for parents and children to read together.
Mohan says that though the concept of audio books is hardly new, its
market has got a new lease of life with tablets, computers and
smartphones. "In the last 30 years, the percentage of book buyers has
not increased. The numbers look big because of the population growth.
Also, the hegemony of the large brands has ended with more number and
different formats of books being published," he says.
The audio book sales are predictably picking up. E-commerce major
Flipkart says the audio books market is growing steadily, but a lot
depends on digital rights management and how policies and structures
are built around it to avoid plagiarism, says a Flipkart
spokesperson. "Audio books have a very niche set of audience and we
foresee a lot of potential," he adds, pointing out how the demand for
non-fiction and mythology titles in audio books is very high.
Audio books clearly have an audience ranging from the avid book
readers to those only starting to learn the alphabet. Ruthu
Sreebashyam's iPad is her two-year-old's favourite gadget. The
toddler could be uttering gobbledegook, but knows the route to his
storytelling and nursery apps on his mother's tab.
Stories for adults:
If reading is not your thing, then there are podcasts. Fiction and
non-fiction works of some of the best storytellers are available on
podcasts like The Moth, True Story, Snap Judgement and many more.
One of the oldest programmes on All India Radio's Vividh Bharati is
Hawa Mahal - stories presented in a skit format.
Yaadon ka IdiotBox with Neelesh Misra on 92.7 BIG FM is a two-hour
show where every day stories of an imaginary city is narrated by
Misra, who is a journalist, author and storyteller.
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Mahendra Galani
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